Droughts, as a research topic, encompass the characterization, drivers, impacts, and prediction of prolonged periods of abnormally low water availability in the atmosphere, soil, and hydrological systems. Scientific study distinguishes meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socio-economic droughts, often quantified using indices such as the Standardized Precipitation Index or Palmer Drought Severity Index. Research investigates land–atmosphere feedbacks, large-scale circulation anomalies, soil moisture deficits, vegetation stress, and groundwater depletion, as well as the modulation of drought frequency, duration, and intensity by climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, with implications for water resources management, ecosystem functioning, and risk assessment.
Tropical forests, often described as the lungs of the planet, may be edging closer to a dangerous threshold as droughts become more frequent and widespread across the world's humid tropics. New research suggests these ecosystems ...
For an agricultural nation like New Zealand, severe drought is one of the most ominous consequences of a warming planet.
Earth Sciences
May 15, 2026
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A recent Minnesota Pollution Control Agency report found that climate change could cost Minnesotans more than $20 billion a year by 2040. This is just the local cost of a global problem. Ecosystem stability is essential to ...
Ecology
May 14, 2026
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Do you have the sense that summers feel different than when you were younger? That they start earlier, arrive quickly and remain intense until the fall? If you live in the mid-latitudes of either the Northern or Southern ...
Environment
May 14, 2026
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10
More than 60% of the United States is experiencing drought conditions, with more than 20% in an extreme drought. Andrew Ellis, a climatologist at Virginia Tech said the current conditions are among the worst in decades because ...
Environment
May 14, 2026
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Current indices for assessing the biological status and quality of rivers are designed to study perennial rivers, so they are not suitable for temporary rivers. This is because the lack of a constant flow of water in the ...
Ecology
May 13, 2026
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Grasslands, covering 40% of Earth's vegetated surface, play a crucial role in the global carbon balance but are increasingly threatened by climate-driven water scarcity. A new study published in Science Advances finds, however, ...
Earth Sciences
May 13, 2026
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A Dartmouth study shows that annual rainfall in much of the world has consolidated over the past four decades into heavier storms with longer dry periods in between.
Earth Sciences
May 13, 2026
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Extreme weather poses a big threat to birds. Yet there is a lack of both knowledge and methods for measuring its negative effects. In a new study published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, researchers from Lund University ...
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2026
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A new Rice University study is shedding light on a long-debated question: Can climate variability influence the risk of armed conflict? The answer, researchers say, is yes—but in more nuanced and region-specific ways than ...
Environment
May 11, 2026
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